Do you find the gym to be an intimidating place?

Do you feel embarrassed performing exercises that you don’t think you are doing correctly?

Do you feel ashamed about your body?

If you answered yes to any or all of the questions above, there’s a good chance that you’re an Iron Virgin.

And if you are an Iron Virgin, then there is absolutely nothing to feel intimidated, embarrassed or ashamed about. We’ve all been there.

However, as an Ex-Iron Virgin myself, I do understand what you’re going through and how you are feeling. I still remember the first time I set foot in a training facility. I had so much anxiety and fear that I was going to either look stupid, hurt myself or break a piece of exercise equipment. In fact, for the first few weeks, I spent the majority of the time wandering around the gym aimlessly while taking multiple trips to the water fountain just so that I looked busy and didn’t draw attention to myself.

Fortunately for me, a few older bodybuilders at my new gym eventually took me under their wing and taught me how to train correctly. I think they felt bad for me because of how young I was and how obviously out of place I looked. Being just 14 years old, I couldn’t afford the cost of a Personal Trainer to teach me how to lift weights properly nor was I old enough to join a Small Group Fitness Class. But the older bodybuilders were patient and willing to help me because they knew I was hungry to learn and do as I was told without questioning their methods or complaining about their workouts.

Fast forward 23 years later and I now find myself in a similar situation to where those older bodybuilders found themselves when they decided to help me. By no means would I ever consider myself to be an expert in my field and know everything. However one would hope that after 2+ decades of training both myself and hundreds of clients, I would have at least some experience when it comes to building muscle and burning fat. And over the next 3 weeks, I’m going to try my best to share some of the tips and tricks that I’ve learned along the way, that are going to save you, the Iron Virgin, wasted time, effort, and energy on your quest to become your very best.

Lesson #1 – Sets, Reps & Rest

A simple google search will provide you with a generic response about how many sets and reps you need to perform to achieve your goal. But I’ll just save you some time and list those sets and rep ranges below:

– 5-8 Sets x 3-6 Reps = Strength & Power

– 3-4 Sets x 10-15 Reps = Hypertrophy

– 3-4 Sets x 20+ Reps = Tone (enter eye roll here)

As a Bodybuilding Coach, I specialize in helping people transform their physiques while improving their health. Therefore the average person enlists my services because they want to change their aesthetics and live a longer/better quality of life. As a result, my primary focus is on utilizing my clients’ time spent in the gym to their full advantage. I like to keep the intensity of their workouts high, weights moderately heavy, and rest time to a minimum. When it comes to reps and sets, I’m all over the place. I honestly go by feel and with what works for the person that I am working with. With that being said, there are some general rules and guidelines I like to follow to remain within these parameters.

The Iron Virgin Cheat Sheet

Sets – Try to keep your sets between 3-4 sets. 3 sets if you’re circuit training and 4 sets if you’re
basic-straight set training.

Reps – Try to keep all your reps in double digits. If you feel you need to warm up a muscle group, choose a weight in which you can easily perform 20 reps with. Once you are warmed up, choose a weight that you can achieve no greater than 15 reps with and no less than 10 reps with.

Rest – This is an important one. If you are training with maximum intensity, your rest periods should be no longer than 45-60 seconds between sets. If you are performing circuits of 4-6 stations in a row, then my suggestion is to take no longer than 90 seconds after you have completed 1 full round of stations without rest in between.

Remember, if you’re serious about maximizing your results, then you need to be serious about maximizing your time spent in the gym. Save the selfies and IG Posts for AFTER your workout. Stay focused on your sets, reps and rest time DURING your workout.

Stayed tuned for next week’s blog as I go over Lesson #2 and Lesson #3 that will help you, The Iron Virgin achieve your Personal Best in 2023!

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove
Forever Fit Performance